Fifty-nine votes were cast in favor of Pashinyan, while 42 Members of Parliament voted against him. Three parliamentary factions—the Yelk alliance, Tsarukyan faction, and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF)—supported Pashinyan’s candidacy, while the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), which has a majority in Armenia’s National Assembly, announced ahead of the vote that despite the fact that the party is against Pashinyan’s candidacy, 10 plus one of its members would vote for him and allow for him to get elected, in order “stabilize” the situation in the country.

Speaker of the National Assembly Ara Babloyan opened the parliamentary session by recognizing that May 8 was the 26th anniversary of the beginning of the liberation of Shushi. Pashinyan—the sole candidate for PM—was then introduced by fellow Yelk alliance member Lena Nazaryan, who presented Pashinyan’s biography.

Pashinyan then took to the podium and addressed the members of the National Assembly, the tens of thousands of citizens gathered at Yerevan’s Republic Square, and those following along across the country and throughout the Armenian Diaspora. He congratulated the people on the anniversary of Shushi’s liberation and highlighted the fact that the vote was taking place on the same day as the historically significant event.

Throughout his address, Pashinyan promised to implement “very serious reforms” to democratize the country and reaffirmed his pledge to hold fresh elections, which he said will not be fraught with widespread fraud and bribery like elections in the past. He also pledged the his government would conduct a review of the electoral code.

Pashinyan then promised to continue the peaceful negotiations for the resolution of the Artsakh conflict and stressed that it is vital for Artsakh to become an active part of the peace process and join the negotiation “as indicated by a decision of the [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] OSCE Minsk Group leaders.” He then promised to continue Armenia’s efforts in regards to international recognition of the Armenian Genocide and to allow Armenia to become a leader in ensuring that similar crimes are prevented throughout the world.

Pashinyan’s government, according to the new PM, will also work to advance women’s rights in Armenia and work to engage more women in government. He also stressed the importance of the Armenian Diaspora and the significant role it must have in Armenia’s future.

Pashinyan’s election on May 8 came exactly a week after the National Assembly failed to elect him as PM on May 1.

Immediately following his election, Pashinyan took the podium once again and proclaimed, “I will serve the people of Armenia and the Republic of Armenia.” Pashinian did not provide any details regarding the composition of his cabinet. Speaking to reporters on his out of the National Assembly chamber, Pashinyan noted that his ministers will be chosen as a result of discussions and consultations with his colleagues and other political groups. He also indicated that he will be traveling to Artsakh tomorrow, where he will take part in the official celebrations of Victory, Armed Forces, and Shushi Liberation Day.

“My election isn’t the victory here,” Pashinyan told a jubilant crowd gathered at Republic Square following the vote. “The fact that you—the citizens of Armenia—decided who will be your Prime Minister is the real victory today.” In his address at the square, he reiterated his pledge to serve the Armenian people, the Armenian nation, and the Republics of Armenia and Artsakh.

Sorry, the Republican party of Armenia did not do any favour to anyone they have lost the plot, they were shamed and had no other choice but to elect Nicole pacinian hoping that the people of Armenia and the Diaspora to be easier on them for their corruption.
I would like to remind you what William Saroyan said:
I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose history is ended, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, whose literature is unread, whose music is unheard, whose prayers are no longer uttered. Go ahead, destroy this race. Let us say that it is again 1915. There is war in the world. Destroy Armenia. See if you can do it. Send them from their homes into the desert. Let them have neither bread nor water. Burn their houses and their churches. See if they will not live again. See if they will not laugh again. See if the race will not live again when two of them meet in a beer parlor, twenty years after, and laugh, and speak in their tongue. Go ahead, see if you can do anything about it. See if you can stop them from mocking the big ideas of the world, you sons of bitches, a couple of Armenians talking in the world, go ahead and try to destroy them.

This Saroyan quote needs to be put to bed. We need to stop looking at ourselves only as victims and survivors. The only part of our identity cannot be 1915. We need to develop a more motivating self-image.
Congratulations to Nikol Pashinyan and the protesters.

Sounds too good to be true. The severe problems of post-Soviet Armenia are structural, and it needs societal changes to solve them, not just governmental change. The more residents of Armenia will realize this demand, the better for the success of the new rulers.

For centuries our people have had one element to carry on which is HOPE. So let us hope that the new Prime Minister will be able to fulfill at least a part of his promises. The most important work for Pashinyan is to clean the oligarchy ruling in Armenia.
To give equal rights to women is also a good gesture by the new Prime Minister and democratization of the country will greatly improve the political life. A priority also is to improve the economic life of the people , not the oligarchs.
May God help Nicol Pashinyan? May God help our beloved Armenia and our Nation.

I watched May 1st and May 8 election, on Azatutyun.am, and I am proud of all the Armenians in Hayastan and the protest leaders as well, I knew they will be able to pul this revolution out, as I predicted and told many people in Yerevan on my each visit there in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, ի Վերջօ լավ կ՛լինի, պետք է հույս ունենակ…. Thank you dear Nikol Pashinyan for your courage, you love for all Armenians and for your patriotism. As for the corrupted oligarchs or Neo-Comminist, your days are coming to end very, very soon. All of you corrected Վօճիլներ you need to pay the Armenia’s 7 billion debts that you Վօճիլներ created, by still and lotting Armenia….

Congratulations to people of Armenia.
Now let’s see if in the next twelve months the following could be implemented so that the victory is more than just a lip service like the last 25 years.
1- Rule of law(no-one is above the law)
2- Let the oligarchs keep their stolen money but all natural resources (mines, ….) need to be nationalized
3- Serious effort to attract foreign/diaspora investment by guaranteeing fair and free business environment
4- Strong and favorable banking system to attract capital from neighboring countries
5- Strong push to get infrastructure projects initiated to attract those Armenians who have migrated to other soviet republic countries back to Armenia

Interesting, how can he claim that people voted for him when only ppl who supported him were in Yerevan. There r 3+ million ppl living in Armenia yet if you r able to bring 50k or even 100k to the streets all of the sudden ppl of Armenia voted for you? Cmon. I got one and only simple question. Who is standing behind this guy?(who r those groups, agencies, governments etc.)

You seem to have more grudge against Soviet Armenia which, with all its flaws and shortcomings, ensured the revival of the Armenian people in science and engineering, architecture, arts, literature, music, and sports than against Ottoman Turkey which obliterated almost all of our people, stole out ancestral lands, and destroyed all traces of millennia-long Armenian presence on those lands. We need to learn to accept our history in its entirety. No Chinese will defile the Maoist period of his history, just like no Frenchman will defile the horrible bloodbath called the French Revolution.

You have a point in comparison with the Turks, but not from a bigger picture. I look at it as the Soviets were the ones who made it possible for Turkey to wage war on Armenia stealing her lands and prevented Armenia from forming a real nation, free of subjugation. As I stated before, the first Soviets might not have been ethnically Russian, but our “ethnically Russian friends” had at least 40 years to correct the wrongs of their predecessors against Armenia, and they never did. What did “Azerbaijan” ever do for Russia? Nothing. What did Armenia do for Russia? A WHOLE LOT. Yet the illegal occupation of Nakhichevan continues under Russia’s watch, and the Russians would care less if Artsakh of Azerbaijan had won the war. This is my primary problem with Russian “friendship”. It’s a myth. The only way I will believe it is when Azerbaijan stops existing as a pseudo state acting as Turkey’s forward base against Armenia, and all of Armenia’s lands are restored east of Turkey with Russia’s approval and help. Otherwise, Azeris and Turks need to be watched, but the Russians need to be watched closer. Armenia has no access to the sea, nor a border with Russia, and all of this could have been easily done during the Soviet Union. This is all the proof I need about Russian treachery. Tangible proof, not mythical claims.

Weak… In 1915 there were no ‘Soviets’ who “made it possible for Turkey to wage war on Armenia stealing her lands”. Being the subjects of the Ottoman Empire, Armenians did not “wage war” against their authorities, and it was the Ottomans, not the Soviets, who destroyed the Armenians during the genocide and stole our ancestral lands. Ethnically Russian friends, if you mean the Soviet authorities who came after the predominantly Jewish Bolsheviks, could not correct the wrongs of their predecessors because winding up confrontation during the Cold War between the Warsaw Pact and NATO, in which the Republic of Turkey was and still is a member-state, could almost certainly have catastrophic consequences for the region and the world, need I say? As for Armenia’s post-Soviet period, you miss a bigger picture. Artsakh was freed, and so were the territories around it. In the international politics, even if you’re such a superpower as Russia, you don’t unilaterally project explicit military force in order to free Nakhichevan or restore Armenian lands in eastern Turkey. Such a measure requires specific conditions and circumstances, as well as coordination with other major international actors, the US and the EU first and foremost. I’m sorry that you exhibit such a high degree of simplification and myopia in international affairs.

Incorrect. It was not public knowledge before, but it is now common knowledge that The Soviet Union gave the Turks whatever they needed to invade Armenia, while they do the same. Up until now, we have been deceived into believing that we had to “choose the less evil Bolsheviks”. When in reality they were both the same. Armenians got suckered, outplayed and checkmated, but considering our circumstances we had little other choice. Everyone betrayed Armenia, and nothing has changed. Your claim about Warsaw Pact and NATO also doesn’t make sense because I never said Russia should invade Turkey when Turkey is in NATO. I said Soviet Russia to start could have easily transferred Artsakh back to Armenia with probably little to no international consequence, if the claim that Russia is Armenia’s friend even had one ounce of reality. Actually, Russia is Azerbaijan’s “protector”, but the Azeris are not thinking about giving thanks to Russia. And besides, how come Russia didn’t care about “catastrophic consequences for the region and the world” when they gladly invaded Georgia? How come Russia recognized two new states within that invasion overnight, yet could not even express any solidarity with Armenia in the 2016 Artsakh war? Other than the answer of Russia cares for its own interests only and not Armenia’s, I have heard nothing else that makes sense.

So which part do you regret more, that you didn’t know that Lenin sent money and weapons to Ataturk so that both can invade Armenia in 1920 (and not 1915 as you are pretending that I said), or that after 1960’s the Soviet Union could have simply made Nagorno-Karabakh part of Armenia based on the claim that “Armenians and Russians have been friends for hundreds of years”? Or maybe the part where, Russia never worried about “international consequences” when it invaded Georgia, annexed Crimea and set up two puppet states in Georgia, but couldn’t even express any solidarity, or for that matter even honesty in the 2016 Artsakh invasion by Azerbaijan? I’m curious to know which FACT made you regret entering this debate. [Just a friendly reminder again with Russia to Armenia relationship based on our “alliance”: “the Turks are going to invade if you don’t stop in Karabakh and sign our documents dictating your future, see how we saved you again? And by the way, we are going to use Armenian territory to protect our interests, and you are going to pay for it. Just be glad you are getting our left over bones.”]

Congratulations to Nicole Pashinyan as well as to all the people in Armenia!!!The 8th of May 2018 shall be remembered by the generations to come and be proud of the Day of reinstating Democracy at the Republic of Armenia!!!!